Lisandro Martínez has challenged Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt to repeat their criticism to his face after the pair said Erling Haaland would make the Manchester United defender look like “a little toddler” in the Manchester derby.
Speaking on a podcast ahead of the game, Butt predicted Haaland would “pick Martinez up and run with him” and their battle at Old Trafford would be rememble “a dad after school running down the road with a little toddler.”
Scholes followed up with “he’d score, then throw him in the net.”
But after Martinez kept Haaland quiet during United’s impressive 2-0 win, the Argentinian hit back at the former players — and Scholes, in particular.
“Honestly, he can say whatever he wants,” Martinez said. “I told him already, if he wants to say something to me, he can come to wherever he wants. To my house, wherever. I don’t care.”
United are known to be unhappy at the comments from Scholes and Butt, believing it was an attempt to mock Martinez rather than offer any constructive analysis.
Both Scholes and Butt have been at Old Trafford recently with the pair spotted in the directors’ boss alongside Sir Alex Ferguson for United’s 2-1 defeat to Brighton in the FA Cup the weekend before the derby — a game Martinez played in.
“I think for me, I respect the relations [ex-players] when they want to help the club because everyone can talk on the television but when you see [them] here face to face, no one says anything in your face,” Martinez continued.
“So for me, I don’t really care what they say. I just put the focus on my performance, the performance of the team and I give everything to this club until my last day.”
Martinez’s display against Haaland — who was substituted early by Pep Guardiola — was key for United as Michael Carrick masterminded victory over City in his first game as head coach.
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The 44-year-old was only appointed on Tuesday and took training for the first time on Wednesday, Still, Martinez said the former United midfielder was able to quickly make an impression on the squad.
“It’s so different, so different,” he said. “Different mentality, different guy. He [Carrick] knows what this club really means. He sent us that message that he played here for a long, long time.
“He won everything. He is a big legend. He wants to help the club and I think we were in a tough situation and it was the best moment to change that.”